Road Trip - Bellefonte, PA; Penn's Cave; Jersey Shore, PA

Road trip to Centre County, PA













Touring around town........

 

Took the walking tour - historic houses


hills: up both sides of the town.




Wandering around the park:









Victorian (and other styles)





A trip to Jersey Shore, PA:
(why is the town called "Jersey Shore" ?. I suspect it's a large joke. It's next to a very large island in the west branch of the Susquehanna River, called "Long Island". So, if you cross the river from Long Island to the mainland, it should be called "Jersey Shore").

Penn's Cave.
(It's a cave - it's dark, not great for pictures).  Cave is 52 degrees, water is 38 degrees. No bats in summer - need to tour in winter to see the bat colony.  According to guide, white-nose bat disease does not affect bats in this cave - too much fresh air circulates.

Shofuso. Japanese House & Gardens. Fairmount Park. Philadelphia, PA

15 Turkey Vultures in a tree, watching me shovel snow in the driveway. 5:15pm on 2/14/15










4:30am. Small storm passing through - 55 mph wind gusts...

Later - Walking this weekend, waiting for my knee to heal so i can run again. Cooking for the winter - made a Greek (Crete) stew last night. Spinach, butter beans, tomatoes, zucchini, bugler wheat, spices. Very filling.  Should last for several days. 

Do not have a good book to read.... so, watching many documentaries.  I pick them by subject & description, but quite a few have been by Werner Herzog: Into the Abyss was tonight's.   Also -  This is Myanmar.  (Both from Netflix).  I highly recommend them both - intricate and complex subjects and film treatments - they both need long discussions for thorough dissection. Found another Herzog, also by accident: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. Interesting, but i keep wondering about his intent, and thinking that he needed an editor.  Things happened on the screen, and people were doing things, and I wanted to know more about what i saw. I think Werner wants us to immerse ourselves into the visual experience and WATCH !.

The woman who sold us this house (as we bought it in 2005) -----> has died. They raised 7 children in a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath (4 bedrooms, if you count the uninsulated and unheated attic). Life was different in 1960's and 70's. 

Beach - August 2014

Guess where ?

Schuylkill Canal Day - 2014

Festival today in Mont Clare for the Schuylkill Canal - at Lock 60.

Kayaking on the canal, walking on the tow path. Lots of pictures.

The Lock (both ends)

Lock tender's house and view from house:

At the dam - where the Schuylkill Canal flows into the Schuylkill River.

The blue signs says "no swimming, no fishing, no diving..."

We had lunch in Phoenixville, where Bridge St. looks a lot like Manayunk.

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Bicycles on the Lawn

Actually, they're planters.

Their first day (last month). Have added flowers since then, waiting for them to grow.

Yes, they are different colors: one is teal and the other is periwinkle.

Make a Wristband for a Fitbit ONE.

My (dead) Fitbit One in the blue band, next to my new (but useless) Fitbit Flex (orange band).

After losing two Fitbits because they attach to your clothes, and after running or walking, i put my clothes into the washer and dryer... End of Fitbits......

I bought a Flex, which is nice, but doesn't tell the time, stairs, or how far i've walked.... if i walk beyond  my 'target', i have to synch to find out how far I've walked. Useless.  So, i looked for  wristband for the Fitbit One - can't find one.

So, i made one, using a Garmin vivofit replacement band and Sugru, and used a dead Fitbit One as the prototype.

Amazon sells Garmin vivofit replacement bands in sets of 3 (~ $24).

The opening on the band back to hold the vivofit is just a little larger than the Fitbit One:

So, I put the (dead) One into the slot, and molded Sugru to fill the gap.  When you bend the band backwards the One pops in and out.

Not the neatest molding job, but it just has to hold the One snugly.  The Sugru is the darker blue; it doesn't show from the front of the wristband.